What if therapy doesnt work??

[Denny123456]

Im concerned. I have bad health anxiety & have been through phases of everything. Im obsessed with my heart/ everyones heart. Im utterly convinced im goi g to die of a sudden painful heart attack or blood clot. Ive been like this for years. Anytime i see anything online about somebody dying i haft to know how & if its heart related its immediately going to happen to me. Ill find put what condition it was and then obsess over it. Im constantly out of breath. My hearts been checked so many times over the years and ive even had a few operations - no heart problems. Ivebeen to therapy 3 times. Tried cbt twice. Im literally giving up. I cant get my mind off it. Ever. My waking thought is death. If somebodys arm hurts, i panic thinking heart attack. Im frightened of somebody maki g me jump in case i have a bloody heart attack. Its pathetic. Im alive but not living. Im just upset now that i feel like im goingto be like this forever. I wish i was like most people, 'if i die, i die'

[Carl87]

Hey!

Sorry to hear you’re going through a rough patch in relation to your heart. Providing you are reasonably healthy , not sure of your age... but I can be pretty certain that your heart is absolutely fine. You’re obssessing over it because it’s a vital organ in all of our bodies that essentially keeps us alive. I’ve been laying in bed before and experienced pain down my arm and a little chest pain and thought the worst myself! But guess what... each have been false alarms. There was no heart attack. Just because we experience the odd sensations and niggles now and again, doesn’t mean it’s the worst case scenario happening to us.

In your case , it’s your thoughts that are the issue , not your heart. Your heart is fine. It speeds up when you are anxious (which is completely harmless). Palpitations ... also harmless. So the only advice I would give to you is this . The next time you think about your heart , accept it. Let your thoughts about your heart be there ... but instead of worrying that your thinking about your heart ... be a bystander ... look at the thought and don’t label it or be scared of it. Anxiety plays tricks on your mind and makes you believe things which don’t exist. Realise and internalise one thing. Remember that we Human beings have no control over our thoughts. Our minds sometimes make us think some pretty scary things that have no reflection on us as individuals. It’s just noise. You don’t have to answer the noise , let it scream and shout all it wants . Next time you think about your heart , smile and think to yourself ... this is just anxiety . Pay it no attention and carry on your day as normal without being so impressed by it. The next time you get a chest pain, smile and think ‘it will pass, I’m fine’. Don’t go worrying about it..let the pain be there, and let it pass over you.

The more you realise how little control over our own thoughts you have, the less you begin to fear the thoughts. Your attention becomes less entwined with the thoughts and over time , what do you think happens ? Your focus subconsciously shifts and you forget all about it and begin living your life. Listen to my advice , I’ve been there (although my thoughts were not heart related). It doesn’t matter what the content of the thought is, it matters what you do with them. And the answer is nothing, you do nothing. Best of luck

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Most people don't think " if I die I die" no one can truly be so accepting about death, it's fear that we have to learn how to accept xxx